He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

FR. JOSEPH KRÉMER

II. APOSTLE OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY (1970-1995)

After a brief rest, a few replacements, and a stay in France, my Superior summoned me in order to propose a post to me:

« If you want, you could become the parish priest of La Ressource, at Sainte-Marie. It is the poorest parish, and the inhabitants are all dispersed. No one wants it! »

– Father, I did not come to choose my Mission; it is the Good God who gives me what He wills. I only want to do what is asked of me. »

My confreres could not believe it! They did not think that I could accept so easily such a thankless post. Well! I arrived on 13 January 1970 at La Ressource, and I worked there for thirty-four years. La Ressource is the parish that I loved the most; it will always be in my heart. Divine Providence prepared me at length before giving it to me. I can say in all truth that I am a happy priest.

THE PARISH OF LA RESSOURCE IN 1970

The Parish of La Ressource, like so many others on Reunion Island is a parish in “the Heights”. In order to understand this expression one must know that although Reunion is an island, nevertheless it has all the geographic features that can be found on a whole continent: high mountains (Piton des Neiges 3,069 metres, Grand Bénard 2,896 metres, Piton de la Fournaise 2,508 metres), white-water torrents and majestic cascades, ever lush plains and steep-sided ravines, wild forests, various types of crops, and even… an active volcano.

Because of the height of the mountains, which are situated mostly at the centre of the island, localities developed mainly along the seaside with extensions that can sometimes go very far into the mountains. It is these extensions that we call “the Heights”. The parish of La Ressource was administratively incorporated into the municipality of Sainte-Marie on the seashore, so it groups together all who live dispersed around the church on the mountainside.

Reunion Island, seen from an altitude of 5000 metres. The parish of La Ressource is delimited by the quadrilateral. This photograph gives a view of the northern half of the island, but the perspective is somewhat deformed because of the altitude.

	Click here in order to see the aerial photographs of Rivière des Pluies and La Ressource.

Many difficulties awaited me because cyclone Jenny had destroyed everything in its path. It was therefore necessary to rebuild. Fortunately, Providence had sent a nun from the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary who offered to find the necessary funds. Sr. Eugène thus travelled throughout the island, smiling at everyone. In the evening, she always brought back the required amount for the next day’s construction.

Ground was broken on 25 March 1974, and the first stone blessed on 23 May by Mgr Guibert. On 29 June 1975, the new church was solemnly blessed by Fr. Quatrefages, the vicar capitular, in the presence of 1500 faithful.

15 SEPTEMBER 1977: FIRST CONSECRATION TO THE SORROWFUL
AND IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.

If the church of La Ressource was from then on established on solid foundations to withstand cyclones, it was all the more urgent to restore spiritually this parish that was sorely distressed by the crisis of the Church and society that followed the Council. Religious practice was weak. Everyone was baptised, but only 10 % of the men, 35 % of the women and 20 % of the children registered in catechism regularly came to Mass on Sunday. Let us refrain, however, from condemning them outright without having attempted to understand them. In fact, if forty families live close to the church, all the others are found at three, five and ten kilometres from there. The reason for these distances is inherent to these places: impassable ravines that must be walked round, scarcity of roads, the poor state of trails. Now, when a man has worked all week, we can understand that he needs an exceptional courage in order to travel another ten to twenty kilometres on foot to come to Mass; at that time, no parishioner owned an automobile. I am not too proud of these parishioners, and yet I often had occasion to admire their simple and profound faith. They insist on baptism for their children, on first Communion, on marriage in and burial from the Church. Of course, I often reproached them for this ritualistic religion, but how many times did I have to hear this other reproach: “Father, you do not understand us. Fortunately, God understands us.”

I would give an incomplete picture, if I did not also speak of another scourge: alcohol abuse. Let us add as well that a rather large part of the adult population does not know how to read or write.

Fr. Krémer, however, did not yet understand that this drop in religious practice was mostly the result of the Second Vatican Council, a cause of divisions. The progressivist clergy were prompted to be disputatious and demanded that a native of Reunion be its bishop. The coming of Fr. Cardonnel, a Dominican from Montpellier and a preacher of May 1968, « the heresiarch of the XX^th century, the Luther or the Lamennais of our times » (G. de Nantes CRC n^o 5, February 1968, p. 3), to Reunion Island in 1969, brought about the creation of the journal Témoignages Chrétiens de La Réunion. It became an ally of the Communist Party at that time and demanded the end of missionary Christianity. From then on, the assemblies of clergy became the scene of confrontations that Mgr Guibert did not succeed in controlling. In such a context, he resigned.

Mgr Gilbert Aubry, the present Bishop of Reunion Island was at the time very close to these anti-establishment movements as a Catholic Action chaplain.

When he appointed him bishop of Reunion Island, Paul VI made him the youngest bishop of France and put an end to the line of Spiritan bishops desired by Fr. Libermann. This was how the new missionary doctrine of the Council, which was hostile to the French missionary congregations, was implemented.

As a spectator of all this agitation, Fr. Krémer discovered, thanks to his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the way to stir up new ardour in the hearts of his children; he would consecrate his parish to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. This beautiful ceremony took place on 15 September 1977 on the feast of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. He was immediately rewarded because, far from “running out of steam”, as Mgr Gilbert Aubry had predicted a little too quickly, the parish enjoyed new surge in its development.

This consecration resembles greatly the one that Abbé des Genettes made at Our Lady of the Victories: Fr. Krémer thus showed himself to be the worthy son of Fr. Libermann, who put his congregation under the patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Fr. Krémer never improvised his sermon. He carefully wrote it in his notebook, before calmly giving it with great clarity.

The homilies that he gave to prepare his parishioners for this consecration are stamped with his very tender devotion toward the tears of the Blessed Virgin.

« I wrote to our bishop and I set out the reasons for this consecration. He replied to me that it was an excellent initiative. He keenly encouraged me to do it, to redo it often throughout the year and especially to persevere in this path. »

Faithful to Her promise towards those who embrace the reparatory devotion, the Blessed Virgin profusely poured out Her graces on the entire parish of La Ressource:

« And now, has there been a change? I believe so. First, the catechists and I speak much more often of Mary and of the Sorrowful Heart. It is marvellous to see how occasions are given to us while before, we only spoke of Her two or three times in the year during the catechism lesson dealing with the subject. As the Council wishes, we now succeed in putting the Blessed Virgin easily at the heart of our religion and of all our teaching. It also seems that children come more often to Mass. It is known that here, about only 25 % are faithful to Sunday Mass. Now, one day, I made an unannounced check. We counted more than four hundred children, which represents almost all of our numbers.

« Visits to the Blessed Sacrament increased especially on the day of catechism. All day now children can be found in prayer at the church while before no child came to church outside the hours of offices or before the hour set for the catechism lesson. Presently about fifty children attend the Tuesday evening Mass during which I speak of Fatima and the three little seers, whom I present as models for their age. This is a thing that had never been seen. Yet, some children travel three kilometres and others even greater distances in order to be faithful to it, for the parish includes eight districts that are quite distant one from another. The furthest is at a distance of seven kilometres and… they come on foot of course!

« Almost all the children wear the Miraculous Medal and say a complete five-decade rosary every day.

« In this new atmosphere, to teach catechism was a delight… I also noted that our catechists are now more alert and full of zeal. Since September, from about twenty to thirty children come to confession each evening, yet formerly they had to be persuaded, and I have the impression that we will not stop here. Am I too optimistic? Perhaps… but I do not think so; rather I am criticised for the contrary. »

The inner joy that Fr. Krémer felt following this consecration illuminated his entire priestly life, even though he did not yet understand the world event that the demands of the Blessed Virgin of Fatima constitutes.

Being totally abandoned to Her Will, he would soon be rewarded: She led him to our Father, the Abbé de Nantes, whose work would make him understand the importance of the Secret of Fatima for the future of the Church and of the world.

Since then, Fr. Krémer exercised his ministry with a renewed zeal for the salvation of the souls who were entrusted to him.

HIS MASS.

He celebrated it early in the morning each day in order to allow his parishioners to attend it before going to their obligations. This morning presence was what remained of the “4 o’clock Mass” celebrated by Fr. Levavasseur for the slaves before they went to work. It was the main action of the day, according to the little rule of life that he wrote when he was at Mauritius:

« When we preach, visit the sick, direct a work, build a church, we are convinced of being at our place and of being important people in the Church. Now, in the face of eternity, only one thing is important for the priest: offering the Sacrifice of the Mass. Many of our material actions could be accomplished by laymen, not the Mass. Through Mass, the priest does more for souls than by all the rest. The only action that counts in the priest’s day is his Mass. It is for the Mass that the priest was called and ordained. »

« When we did not have school, Brother Scubilion relates, our mother woke us up at 5:30 in order for us to be at the church at 6 o’clock. After Mass, we had to climb the slopes of the Piton Cailloux on an empty stomach, which was very mortifying! But we did it willingly in order to attend Fr. Krémer’s Mass, which led us, in spite of ourselves, to make sacrifices. Without manifesting the slightest affectation or seeking to personalise his Mass, he raised our souls despite the new liturgy. Those who came from the exterior were always surprised by the diligence that he employed in pronouncing the words of the consecration.

« Sunday morning, parishioners arrived at the church at 6 o’clock. Fr. Krémer turned on a tape recorder that broadcast religious music favourable to fostering recollection. There followed a short choir practice for the entire parish, and Mass began at 6:30.

« The parishioners were divided in a noteworthy way: the men, even if they were married, placed themselves on the epistle side of the altar, the ladies and their children on the pews in the centre and the woman singers on the Gospel side of the altar! The church was packed, 250 to 300 persons!

« The sermon was always eagerly expected. It was never improvised. Fr. Krémer carefully wrote it in a notebook. He calmly expounded it, with great clarity. Sometimes he became animated and scolded bad parishioners. Even so, they came back the following Sunday, except a few ”swelled heads” who preferred to go elsewhere and peddle lies about Fr. Krémer. »

CATECHISM.

	First communicants and the newly confirmed participating in the procession on 15 August 1988. Fr. Krémer is at the top of the steps, and catechism mistresses surround the children.

« Fr. Krémer taught catechism in the form of questions and answers that he wrote himself before using the Abbé de Nantes’. The first Communion children were questioned individually and were not admitted to the retreat if they did not know the responses by heart. And woe to anyone who was distracted during the practice ceremony: he received a good slap that made more noise than pain, but which removed any desire for daydreaming! Then began the first Communion retreat: three holy days, marvellous! I can say that these were the most beautiful days of my life on Reunion Island in virtue of having made my first communion at La Ressource: to attend Fr. Krémer’s teaching on our religion was unadulterated happiness! No one grew tired of listening to him, so simple, so true was his teaching taken from the Gospel and delivered with authority. In order that it be a truly closed retreat, he insisted that we eat on the site.

« We did not realise the grace that was granted to us, at the moment when everywhere else absurd catechetical courses were the order of the day.

« The First Communion ceremony was very solemn. Each year, a hundred children from a parish of three thousand souls received Jesus in their heart thus for the first time. Blacks, Whites, Indians, Madagascans, and people of mixed ancestry, all were dressed in a white alb, attended Mass with great recollection, and received Communion with fervour. »

VICTIM OF DIABOLICAL DISORIENTATION

Nevertheless, without really understanding why or how, Fr. Krémer saw the Church in Reunion Island change little by little the manner that it spoke. One no longer heard of anything other than ecumenism, interfaith, social justice and equality, forgetting the principal: the salvation of souls.

He felt ill-at-ease, not knowing what to think of all these novelties.

« The changes imposed by the Council appeared much later in our missions, he confided. At the beginning, I found them good and submitted without a qualm.

« And little by little, as all the changes planned by the Council were put into effect in my parish, in line with “aggiornamento” – a word that has always shocked me – I felt that I could no longer agree with everything. I was tortured, saying to myself: “But it is the Pope and the Church who have spoken!” and a few minutes after: “No, I cannot accept that”… Especially concerning the Mass in French that I had begun to say at the end of the 1960’s. At the beginning, it was very new and it came from the Council; I accepted immediately and then I realised that the Mass had been demolished. But what could be done? And the questions mounted one after the other. Laymen and priests around me followed, but I was not at ease. I remained thus for almost twenty years; I did not lose the Faith, but things no longer went well! Providence granted me the grace of becoming acquainted with the Abbé de Nantes at the right moment, otherwise I would have either lost the Faith or followed Mgr Lefebvre. »

FROM FATIMA TO THE CATHOLIC COUNTER-REFORMATION

It was during 1986 that he was providentially led to get in touch with the Abbé de Nantes. The Immaculate Heart thus rewarded this good Father who had long practiced the reparatory devotion of the five First Saturdays of the month and who went on pilgrimage to Fatima on the occasion of each of his holidays in metropolitan France.

« I wanted to introduce Fatima into the parish. Now, I must say to my great shame, I scarcely knew Our Lady of Fatima, less yet Her message. Nevertheless, something told me that I should now study Fatima. After some searching, I found little on the apparitions that took place there. One day, however, I read in a sort of catalogue a marvellous advertisement on the entire history of Fatima. It was a review of four volumes entitled “The Whole Truth about Fatima”.

« The books arrived and immediately I began reading. I could not stop until I had reached the last page! I mainly retained that the Pope had to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and understood that the consecration of dioceses and parishes went along with that. Secondly, I understood that the Blessed Virgin wanted Her Immaculate Heart to receive a special devotion in the Church by means of which She would grant peace to her as well as to the world, and Russia would be converted. I did not need to be told twice.

« I consecrated the parish of La Ressource to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in February 1987 and committed to celebrating every first Saturday of the month.

« A copy of the consecration was sealed and plastered into a secret place in the church. »

Fr. Krémer was intrigued by the author’s continual reference throughout the pages to “our Father, the Abbé de Nantes” and did not wait long for answers to his questions. A CRC family that had recently arrived on the island made him known to him. They themselves were won over by Fr. Krémer :

« Taking advantage of a trip to Madagascar, we asked him to keep safely in his home our tape recorder and a quantity of CRC videos on the Holy Shroud as well as spiritual retreats », his new parishioners from metropolitan France relate:

« At our return, he had devoured everything and enthusiastically asked for more. We became bolder and proposed more controversial subjects: current events, the Council… »

HOLY ENCOUNTER.

He first sojourned at Maison Saint-Joseph during the summer of 1989, during which he met our Father for the first time. They spoke at length to one another about the novelties that had their origins from the Council and before which Fr. Krémer felt completely disoriented. He was particularly distraught to see that the souls of his flock were slipping away from him because they no longer wanted to admit in confession sins that they had truly committed. Should he give them absolution? Our Father related to him his own disappointments as a country parish priest and encouraged him to make allowances between the law and its application, which depends on social pressures and other factors that must be taken into account. The Church accepts this and gives absolution all the same. Our Father also provided him with all the arguments that allowed him to resist the temptation of being carried away by the Integrists who liked to frequent La Ressource.

During the recreations, the brothers and sisters were charmed by the simplicity with which he related the great events of his life as soldier and missionary. When he returned to Reunion Island, he was comforted by the advice of our Father, who for his part had liked him from their first conversation. Fr. Krémer wrote him a letter full of gratitude:

« Dear Father,

« On the occasion of Christmas and New Year, let me give you some news. Upon return here on 11 October, immediately work seized me: catechism, sick calls, organising the visit of Our Lady of Fatima with families.

« So from October on, the Blessed Virgin passes in one or two families per week. All these families are, at that time, visited by me, and we do the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary. Each family must first commit themselves never to miss Sunday Mass nor, as far as possible, Mass on the First Fridays and Saturdays of the month. Of course, daily Rosary as a family, monthly confession, reparatory Communion… are things that go without saying.

« I reckon on visiting a good hundred families each year. It seems to me that we are on the right path.

« As for Sundays, for me they are real feasts, for they are also days when I meet the CRC family. Once a month I eat a meal in their home […]. You can well imagine that our spiritual conversations each Sunday occupy all our time. Thus your conferences, your sermons, all the cassettes, all your writings… are systematically passed in review, week after week. Between us reigns the most perfect friendship. I can assure you that never before in my life have I been so united with a family.

« Only one regret now: they are soon going to leave me. Pray much for me, for it will be hard. I will once again feel alone in the combat, as in the past. It is then especially that I will need your spiritual help.

« Before leaving you, receive, my very dear Father, and you as well, dear brothers and sisters, the assurance of a special prayer to the Child of the manger, in order that the New Year be holy above all and that it may bring at last, we all hope for it, the triumph of the Most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Thank you for all that you do for us. Thank you particularly for your writings and cassettes. Thank you for your faithful prayers. Great union of prayers between us all.

« As for you, my very dear Father, please bless me, but also my parish and all those, whether close or far away, who are connected to it. » (Letter of 18 December 1989)

One day Fr. Krémer received “Forty Years of Catholic Counter-Reformation, volume I. In the Eye of the Cyclone”: « I wanted initially to glance through it and go back to it later on, but I could no longer manage to put off reading it until later. This book is fascinating! At last, I understand better what happened at the Council. It is alarming! » (Letter of 4 November 1993 to Brother Scubilion)

From then on he was attached to our Father and Maison Saint-Joseph as to his true family; the bonds that united him with the CRC families that providentially succeeded one another at Reunion Island, grew stronger.

IN THE FACE OF PROGRESSIVISM.

Fr. Krémer’s absence during this summer of 1989 was the opportunity for specialised Catholic Action movements to make their intrusion at La Ressource. On his return, the missionary parish priest found his parishioners divided and the recitation of the Rosary replaced by a “Gospel sharing”.

Our Brother Scubilion, who was thinking of entering the seminary, admitted his confusion to Fr. Krémer. By way of an answer, he handed him the series of articles entitled The Mystery of the Church and Antichrist, and recommended that he read it carefully.

« This is what I did without delay after having prayed in the church. It was a grace! I understood what progressivism was: a disorder in affections that incites hatred for what is traditional in order to hasten towards what is the most opposite to our religion with an aim to organising an earthly future. The three “golden nails” of our holy religion: original sin, redemption and eternal life were transformed into their carnal equivalents: alienation, liberation and earthly happiness. » (cf. Letter to My Friends n° 141, 23 May 1963)

It was a sudden revelation. « It is thanks to Fr. Krémer, himself a disciple of the Abbé de Nantes, that we kept the Catholic Faith. But we did not yet know that this writing was the Abbé de Nantes’, because Fr. Krémer had photocopied the pages without putting the references! Nevertheless, he spoke to us vaguely about a holy priest whom he knew and in whom he had complete confidence. Sometimes we surprised him at the rectory watching a video cassette on which appeared a priest wearing a cassock, with the Heart and Cross on his breast. Fr. Krémer made him known to us little by little by lending us issues of the CRC. Then we in turn subscribed, and each issue was awaited with impatience.

« It was in 1991, the year when all the studies were published that demonstrated that the carbon 14 dating of the Holy Shroud was fraudulent, that the 7Q5 fragment was to be identified as part of the Gospel of St. Mark, that John Paul II’s “consecration of Russia” that preceded the alleged conversion of Russia after the fall of Gorbachev was a sham… We followed these studies with great interest and often spoke about them with Fr. Krémer! He spoke of it from the pulpit especially during Holy Week. One day, he gave a moving sermon on Jesus’ Passion according to the Holy Shroud, during which he constantly interrupted himself in order to weep… »

When reading Fatima Inner Joy, World Event, published in 1991, « I naively thought that I would learn Portuguese in order to go to seminary in Fatima, Brother Scubilion also relates, because “in Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved”! But Fr. Krémer steered me towards Maison Saint-Joseph and advised me to write to the Abbé de Nantes in order to ask him if he would accept me into his community, since such was my desire. Encouraged by Fr. Krémer, I left in December 1991 without saying farewell to my parents because I thought that I would return to finish my exams at Reunion Island. Now, the life of prayer, work and study that I led for a month at Maison Saint-Joseph convinced me that my vocation was there. I therefore decided to enter into community without returning to Reunion Island. It is to Fr. Krémer that I owe my vocation, like many others. »

In 1992, Fr. Krémer came back to metropolitan France, where he joyfully met once again the community and attended the clothing of his spiritual son at Maison Saint-Joseph, in the presence of the friends from the Phalange who had helped him and comforted him in his ministry at La Ressource. Our Father proposed to him that he chant the Mass, but he no longer knew how to say it in Latin, which infinitely saddened him. He had tried, but without success… Our Father was so moved by his sadness that he offered to serve as altar boy at the next Mass in order that he might relearn all the liturgical gestures of the Mass of St. Pius V. « It will be like my first Mass! » he enthusiastically replied.

CHAPLAIN OF OUR SUMMER CAMP.

Fr. Krémer then went to Notre Dame des Enfants Camp that took place in Touraine following in the footsteps of St. Joan of Arc. He has unforgettable memories of it:

« Before the evening meal, I had the joy of giving the spiritual reading; I expounded, in a coherent manner, the five offences against the Immaculate Heart of Mary that form one of the principal reasons for the devotion demanded at Fatima.

« At the morning Mass, I spoke of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, once again in relationship with devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. After the evening lecture, there was sometimes a gathering on the theme of St. Joan of Arc; then the children went to bed in tents. The boys with their “father of the family” and the girls with their “mother of the family”.

« All the meals were taken on the lawn, even when it rained; fortunately it did not rain much and, in any case, good humour always reigned. The next-to-last night was spent in adoration before the Most Blessed Sacrament from 9 pm to 3 o’clock in the morning. Never had I seen children pray thus. With the forehead on the ground, one after the other, children alongside adults, all said the prayer of the Angel of Fatima aloud: “My God, I believe, I adore…”

« I did not believe that in France there were still such well reared, pious, likable, holy children, such good Frenchmen; what a nice surprise it was for me! What thanksgivings I sent to Heaven! I believed that I was in another century. Well, no! It is indeed our own. Here were children such as the Good God always wanted them to be. This I owe to Brother Gerard and to the other Brothers who accompanied him. »

HIS DEVOTION TO OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS.

From the time of his arrival at La Ressource, Fr. Kremer felt a great love for Our Lady Help of Christians, the patroness of the parish since its founding. In his sermon of 24 May 1991, he said to his parishioners:

« Souls are tough and elude all attempts to lay hold of them. In this domain, Our Lady Help of Christians alone can lead souls to Her Son, and here the parish priest is only a useless instrument, a harmful one even.

« This means that 80 % of parishioners are non-practicing. Undoubtedly those who attend this church are marvellous people: you! They are good-hearted and generous, and never yet have we heard of a crime or a serious disorder here. Nevertheless, we have a great handicap: the way that the parishioners are dispersed throughout numerous districts that are quite far from the centre, is a circumstance that regrettably but necessarily results in a certain loss of interest in regular religious practice.

« Thus, Our Lady Help of Christians still has much to do in the parish that She has taken in charge. We pray to Her all together on this day, on earth and in Heaven; She has the place of honour in order to make the love of God and the love of souls penetrate deeper into the hearts of the parishioners. Further, may She also gather all those who live in these places and lead them to Her sanctuary. Finally, may She bring peace to our homes and reunite once again those who, for years, no longer speak to one another.

« We must venerate and love Our Lady Help of Christians all the more because She has been given to us by the Church as our patroness. Her image must be found in all our homes, and never must a day go by without us having invoked Her with this title.

« O Our Lady, Help of Christians, watch over us; O Our Lady, Help of Christians, protect those who invoke you and venerate You in Your sanctuary; O Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us and save us. Amen. »

In the face of the apostasy that he felt powerless to counter, Our Lady Help of Christians was his ultimate recourse:

« The parish of La Ressource owes so much to God. The fact alone that the Church entrusted it to the patronage of Our Lady Help of Christians is a sign of God’s special predilection. It is with legitimate pride, with unlimited confidence and immense love that our gaze turns, more especially today, towards Our Lady Help of Christians. Already She has given us thousands of proofs of Her love and Her predilection. How could we not have confidence in Her in these times of trouble, disorientation and perdition? We therefore entrust to Her our persons and our families, our friends and our country, in order that She place us under Her protection. But, brother and sisters, above all, we ask Her for the grace of graces: to keep the Catholic Faith. »

In 1994, he wanted to celebrate with greater splendour the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians. Each Sunday of the month of Mary he devoted his homily to the history of devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians and to the account of Her great victories in the history of the Church. He ended by exalting the prophesies of St. John Bosco:

« We are thus invited, we above all, the actual parishioners of La Ressource, to give back to Our Lady Help of Christians the place that She should never have lost, namely, the first place after God. If Mary saved the Universal Church time and again, She can also save us the day when these things happen. You must know, however, that when the time of chastisement comes, it will be too late to obtain miracles from Her, if you ignore Her parish here and now and despise Her as many do here. You must love Our Lady Help of Christians now, venerate Her now, and make Her known now. The entire history of the Church attests to it; Jesus and Mary always have taken cognisance of their own in difficult times. May you be among these fortunate ones who belong to Our Lady Help of Christians! »

If such sermons strengthened the faith of the most faithful of his flock, certain parishioners became indignant. A silent persecution began to develop, which would increase in scale as Fr. Krémer did Counter-Reformation work to preserve La Ressource’s traditional Catholic Faith.

THE REGULARITY OF HIS LIFE.

	Fr. Joseph Krémer’s rectory surrounded by all sorts of flowers and tropical plants.

Fr. Krémer rose each morning at 4:30, 4 o’clock on Sunday. He needed two hours to dress and say all his prayers calmly so as to be ready for Mass at 6 o’clock. This morning prayer was sacred to him.

« “You must pray continually and not lose heart”, Jesus said and St. Paul explained: “Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do at all, do it for the glory of God.” How can this programme be realised? It is quite simple: one must begin each morning with the Good Intention. It is like the airline pilot: he sits down in front of the controls and then he puts his plane on “automatic pilot”. Once this is done, he can do whatever he pleases because the plane is on course. Thus each morning, let us put ourselves on course and orient our day towards God by the Good Intention, and all our actions will be accomplished for God. All will be meritorious. » (Book of daily prayers)

This prayer of the Good Intention began by giving thanks to God, who had chosen him to be His priest. He then placed himself in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary along with all the souls who had been entrusted to him and all those to whom he had done some wrong. He entrusted to Jesus and Mary all their intentions, which he adopted as his own: the Pope, bishops and priests; the persecuted, the conversion of sinners, in particular the conversion of Russia, the dying, and the souls in Purgatory. Among the numerous prayers and consecrations that he liked to recite, the “Rosary of the Tears of the Blessed Virgin” held a privileged place.

The church of La Ressource built in reinforced concrete in order to withstand cyclones.

After his Mass, which was attended by the most courageous of his parishioners, he went back to the rectory for his breakfast, which was prepared by one of the three Daughters of Mary who were still living at La Ressource. Then he got down to the preparation of his catechism lessons, the meeting of the Legion of Mary, his homilies for the first Saturdays and for Sunday. The latter were meticulously written in a notebook, or typed by a dedicated person.

He was rarely alone during the day: one or another of his faithful parishioners always helped him with the preparation of meetings and ceremonies. The rectory was always open; anyone could bother him during the day. When he was absent, he hung a small cardboard sign on the door that indicated where he could be found. Thus, he was always accessible.

He knew how to console those who were grief-stricken and encourage the weakest. He never refused to help materially his most destitute parishioners. His goodness sometimes played tricks on him because he happened to forget his promises! Then there were gentle reproaches, in general from women who demanded the salary for their devotedness. He was patient and generous with everyone, but he let nothing by in confession… We heard it said that he sent away penitents who were not prepared…

After his lunch and siesta, he went down to the church for The Hour of Golgotha at 3 pm, in memory of the Passion of Our Lord, according to the practice of Sr. Faustina. He had a great devotion to the merciful Christ and never missed the novena consecrated to Him from Good Friday to Quasimodo Sunday, His feast day.

Then he returned to his obligations. Often, he had to go to a meeting of the priests of the region, the only goal of which was to make him lose time, he said.

He recited his breviary during the day when he had some peace. At the end of the afternoon, he went back down to lock the church, had dinner early, then recited his Rosary. Finally, he watched a CRC video or read; his reading matter generally was books from Maison Saint-Joseph.

When a video from Saint-Parres arrived, he watched it three hours at a stretch after having changed the main room into a cinema, that is to say, having blocked all the light sources and having settled himself into his big arm chair. Likewise, the night that followed the arrival of an issue of the CRC, he always had extremely opportune bouts of insomnia that allowed him to read it in a single sitting! Often he prayed during the night, kneeling on a little prie-Dieu that he had installed in his bedroom. Despite air conditioning and a mosquito screen, he was not a sound sleeper.

In the closet of his bedroom, where his albs and vestments were hung, he hid a small cashbox: it was the cashbox of Our Lady Help of Christians. He kept in it certain donations that were reserved for big parish expenditures. A small miraculous sign: each time he needed money, he always found the exact sum in it.

« He confided to us his worries and his crosses, which increased in number as he wanted to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in his parish, Sr. Marie-Gertrude of Jesus the Host recalls. Once he told us that he had suffered attacks of the Devil during the night. Then, in order to be left in peace, he sprinkled his bed with holy water before going to bed. »

SUNDAYS AND FEAST DAYS.

« When we arrived at La Ressource for the 9 o’clock Sunday Mass, Fr. Krémer was always in his church rehearsing the songs for Mass with the help of a flute-piano. He liked to teach his parishioners hymns from our CRC songbook, but without indicating to them their origin. The church was always full, as it always was for the 6:30 Mass. The ten altar boys were perfectly behaved. Almost everyone knelt at the Consecration and received Communion on the tongue. Sermons were brief but clear and expounded the truths of our holy religion without any compromise. Those that did not refer to the message of Fatima, Heaven and Hell were rare. He always managed to quote the Abbé de Nantes, to whom he referred under the appellation: “a great theologian from France”.

« He was capable of entering into the details of prosaic life when he thought it necessary. He did not hesitate, for example, to give instructions on appropriate dress for women… in the middle of a sermon! Before the final blessing, he read the announcement sheet: the Mass intentions for the week, catechism meetings, etc. He also gave instructions for the good order of ceremonies. On the Sunday that preceded Christmas he always warned women not to put on lipstick at Midnight Mass in order that the statue of the Infant Jesus not be stained!

« Finally he named the families who would clean the “House of God” the following Saturday, which very often occasioned calls to order.

« At the end of Mass, the lady catechists took attendance of the catechism students present because Fr. Krémer absolutely wanted to know the names of those children who missed Mass. They were rare because the punishments were severe!

« Often parishioners asked him to bless objects. Fr. Krémer took the time to bless those of each family separately, and the line was sometimes long.

CATECHISM.

« Catechism classes took place on Wednesday afternoons and were divided into four years of study that were crowned with Confirmation. Each lesson lasted an hour and was divided into two parts. The first half hour was left to the responsibility of the lady catechists; Fr. Krémer took charge of the second. He then brought all the classes together in the big room; certain children trembled because he invariably began by checking the Mass attendance sheet for the previous Sunday.

« Sr. Marie-Joseph had the grace of being confirmed at La Ressource. It was a signal joy because this Sacrament was not routinely given each year in this parish. She attended the three-day preparatory retreat. Fr. Krémer’s instruction was fascinating. He had the talent for making the greatest mysteries understood with childlike simplicity. Confessions were seriously prepared, and on the last day, everyone wrote his retreat resolutions on a paper that had to be signed.

« Every other year, he prepared those who wished to receive the Miraculous Medal and the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. »

CURED BY A MIRACLE OF OUR LADY OF SYRACUSE

« At Fatima, Mary spoke and showed us the road to Heaven! Alas! She was not heeded, so like a Mother despised by Her children, She went to Syracuse in Sicily to weep. That was in 1953. She did not say a word because She had already said everything. Our Lady’s sufferings have always deeply touched me; that is why I placed in the church an exact copy of the statuette that shed a litre of tears. Our Lady of Tears was not unfeeling regarding what was happening at La Ressource. It may be said that She cured me. I will not say that it was a miracle; I will only relate what the doctor concluded. But let us not rob Our Lady of Tears of Her goodness, Her power and Her mercy. »

In point of fact, Fr. Krémer suffered from serious eye trouble that made him consider leaving the parish. He confided his trial to our Father in a letter dated 18 December 1994:

« My good and dear Father,

« It is at the cost of great difficulty that I am writing to you this short note. God alone knows what will become of my sight. In advance everything is accepted. “God gave all, God has taken back all…” May He nevertheless leave me at least one eye!

« But why do I write to you in such a situation? Quite simply because I have “two or three” things to say or repeat to you. First, my great gratitude for what you are in my life, and in order to tell you then that I will remain faithful to the path that you have set out. This path is the path of the Gospel, of eternal truth. When I listen to you, each time I have the impression of hearing once again my seminary professors. I am unable to understand how others, who had the same masters, were able to turn the page and go in another direction. I think that I already told you: at the time when these upheavals began, I as well was quite shaken, but I always said to myself: “It’s impossible, it’s impossible!” Then I met you and the light once again appeared to me.

« I owe you so much gratitude because thanks to your great CRC family, I met friends such as I had never had until then. Here one does not always have the words “I love you” on the lips, but Christian charity is practiced almost to perfection.

« I think that the essentials have been said. It remains for me to say to you: Merry Christmas! Good and Holy New Year!

« Good and dear Father, please bless your servant and your son, and accept my respectful wishes in Jesus and Mary. »

This mutual affection was a consolation for our Father, who could count on the fingers of one hand such priestly friendships.

Fr. Krémer somehow managed to continue his parish ministry, helped by his faithful friends from the Phalange: confirmations, first communions, and preparation of his “last” pilgrimage to Fatima passing through Lourdes, Spain, Italy… He spread throughout the parish his devotion for the Tears of Our Lady of Syracuse from whom he implored improvement of his sight. She answered him in a manner that exceeded his hopes.

He bears witness to it himself:

In actuality, the optic nerve was in the process of being destroyed. No improvement was possible:

« The most reputable ophthalmologist on the island proposed to me a laser operation, telling me that I had one chance of improving my eyesight that had dropped to ten percent of normal capacity. “We will surely gain another five-percent improvement, perhaps another ten percent”, he said. Now, he also said to me: “Twenty percent is better than ten.” Since I had nothing to lose, I accepted and, to my great surprise, I immediately saw better right after the operation.

« Two weeks later, the doctor joyfully announced to me that I had entirely recovered my right eye and that the improvement amounted to one hundred percent of normal! I asked him for some explanation, but he could not find anything else to say than science is unpredictable!

« Yet I am of another opinion, for he had well and truly said: “Twenty percent at maximum”. So what did happen? Well, I think I know: on 25 February 1995, I had begun a novena to Our Lady of Tears of Syracuse. Each evening, I put a cotton swab on my bad eye. The novena ended on 5 March and the application of the cotton swab on the eye on the morning of 6 March, the day when my eye opened. And it was on 20 March, the transferred feast day of St. Joseph, that the doctor announced to me the good news: “Your eye has one-hundred-percent normal vision!” »

 (to be continued)

LA RESSOURCE, LAND OF HOLY MARY ON BOURBON ISLAND Reunion Island, formerly Bourbon Island, is situated in the Indian Ocean, seven hundred kilometres to the east of Madagascar. It has been a French possession since 1649. La Ressource is a district of Sainte-Marie, a small town on the north of the island twelve kilometres from Saint-Denis, presently the chief town of the area. LA RESSOURCE: CRADLE OF THE EVANGELISATION OF MADAGASCAR La Ressource owes its name to its second proprietor, M. de La Ressource, who acquired this land in the eighteenth century. The first proprietors, the Panon Desbassayns family, recovered their plots of land at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was under the auspices of the two families, the de Villèle’s and the Desbassayns, that La Ressource became the cradle of the evangelisation of Madagascar. The beginning of this work is worth relating. In 1830, Mgr Henri de Solages, a friend of Mgr de Forbin-Janson and of Mgr de Mazenod, was named apostolic prefect of Bourbon Island. He debarked in the middle of the July revolution. The Liberals and Freemasons were furious to see a bishop who meant to reform the morals of the colonists and evangelise the Blacks. They raised such obstacles to his apostolate that Mgr de Solages left his office to his companion, Mgr Dalmont; he left with a catechist for Madagascar with the aim of asking for a meeting with Queen Ranavalona. At that time, Madagascar was under the iron rule of this cruel queen, who was advised by Methodist pastors. The latter were agents in the pay of the English government who had been on Madagascar since 1815, the date when England had to return Madagascar to France. Contrary to the previous apostolic prefect of Bourbon Island, who had wanted to entrust the evangelisation of Madagascar to the English Catholic clergy, Mgr de Solages explained to the Propaganda that to leave Madagascar to the English would be tantamount to handing it over to Protestant domination. He thus desired to send French missionaries with the aim of thwarting the influence of the London Missionary Society. In order to carry out his project, he wished to meet the queen of the Hovas, Ranavalona, in order to make the Catholic Church and the works of the French missionaries known to her. It so happened that a certain Jean Laborde arrived at the same time at Tananarive. This clever man succeeded in winning the confidence of this ruthless queen. He did even more by arousing in the heart of the young prince Rakoto love for France and for the Catholic religion. The encounter between Jean Laborde and Mgr de Solages could have taken place if the Protestants had not prevented it. Mgr de Solages was shut away in a hut by soldiers. He died of fever on 8 December 1932, while his catechist was run through with a spear. Jean Labord had been at Tananarive for only a month. This mission worthy of the Immaculate had its first martyr. At Bourbon Island, one day in 1933, Mgr Dalmont was walking on a street of St. Denis when a Madagascan woman approached him, placed a cross in his hand and then fled. He recognised Mgr de Solages’ pectoral cross. By this sign, Mgr Dalmont understood that the Apostolic Prefect also entrusted to him the responsibility for Madagascar. Now he knew, because of his own experience on Madagascar’s neighbouring islands that only a religious congregation would be able to penetrate into the Big Island. On 25 March 1844, he met Fr. Libermann, but the latter was not able to help him. It was the Jesuit Provincial from Lyon, Fr. Maillard, who gave him four Fathers and two brothers in order to found a settlement at La Ressource, the home base for the departure of missionaries for the evangelisation of Madagascar. Once again the generosity of Charles Desbassayns who offered a house to the Jesuits on his lands at La Ressource, triumphed over the decision of the Provincial. In January, 1845, the Jesuits therefore settled on this fifteen-hectare plot of land, situated in a region with a very mild climate. One of the three wooden pavilions that served as residence was changed into a chapel dedicated to Our Lady Help of Christians. One year before Don Bosco settled in Valdocco in 1846, the mission of La Ressource was founded under the same patronage. The Jesuits made a first expedition in Madagascar’s Saint Augustine’s Bay on 5 June 1845, but it fell through because of certain Mauritian Protestants who slandered the missionaries to the natives. Understanding that the hour had not yet come, the Jesuits devoted their time, in accordance with their tradition, to establishing a kind of “reduction” at La Ressource, which they populated with children brought from Madagascar’s neighbouring islands: Nossy-Bé, Sainte-Marie, Nossy-Faly. They gave them a good Christian education. From 1848 to 1868, 410 little Madagascans were baptised at La Ressource. Usually the godparents were members of the de Villèle, Desbassayns or de Lagrange families… The name of Jean Laborde is found in the parish’s baptism registers. The Jesuits taught the children all sorts of trades: tailors, cobblers, joiners, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, ironmasters, printers. Each guild had its workshop. All the children, without exception, worked in the fields two or three hours a day. For their part, the young girls were entrusted to the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny, who were in charge of the work of Nazareth that had been established on a property three hundred metres from there that Frédéric de Villèle had put at their disposal. They were able to bring out the best from these intractable natures and thus made holy souls of them. Forty-three marriages were celebrated between these Madagascans, and these homes constituted the nucleus of Madagascar’s flourishing Christian communities that the Jesuit missionaries had founded. It was in 1849 that the building site of La Ressource’s first church opened. It was consecrated on 28 May 1850. The high altar was decorated with an altarpiece formed of a Gobelins works tapestry that depicted the Virgin of Saint Sixte and that Queen Amélie had offered. This is why Our Lady Help of Christians is venerated at La Ressource portrayed as this Virgin of Saint Sixte. In the bottom of the frame of this tapestry two cartouches were inserted bearing the inscriptions: Auxilium Christianorum (Help of Christians) et Fiarovana Malagasy (Queen of Madagascans). Above the Virgin, an allegorical medallion recalls the principle and foundation of La Ressource: the Heart of Jesus inundates with graces the Heart of Mary, who in turn pours them into three rivers that spread throughout the countryside. In the background one sees to the left the church of La Ressource, to the right a far off island, probably Madagascar, with a port where a vessel lies at anchor. One of the rare photos of the interior of the chapel showing the Gobelins works tapestry, representing the Virgin of Saint Sixte, offered by Queen Amélie. In 1855, the Jesuits penetrated for the first time into the Big Island thanks to a stratagem of Jean Laborde, who advised them to disguise themselves as doctors. They celebrated their first Mass at Tananarive in the presence of Prince Rakoto and Princess Rabodo. At the same time, the Jesuits published various books, all printed at La Ressource: catechisms, Sacred History and a French-Malagasy dictionary in six dialects that is found today scanned on the National Library’s Internet site! This dictionary was used in preference to that of the Protestants in Madagascan schools until 1880. In view of the success of the settlement of La Ressource, the Jesuits called the Brother of Christian Schools in as reinforcements. They moved in in 1862. How can we fail to evoke Blessed Brother Scubilion, who surely went on pilgrimage to La Ressource? He lived at Sainte-Marie from 1856 to 1867, devoting himself to his congregation attached to his students, but also by travelling through the neighbouring countryside in order to cure the sick, convert anticlericals and pagan Indians who had come to replace the slaves in cultivating sugar cane. Furthermore, he cured his parish priest during the cholera epidemic that struck Reunion Island in 1854, and worked many other miracles of healing and conversion. His letters bear witness to his great desire to evangelise Madagascar, where he unfortunately was unable to go. But he instructed the first two brothers from Reunion Island who were sent to this island and whose apostolate was very fruitful. La Ressource also has the tomb of Jesuit Fr. Clément Cathary, who was the prefect of discipline at St. Mary’s College, which was originally called Our Lady of Victory College. This college was founded by the Jesuits in Beaumont in 1855, in “The Heights” of La Ressource, at the place called “St. Ignatius Plateau”. It welcomed the children of Creole colonists. It was subsequently transferred to St. Denis, where it effectively competed with the imperial high school. Today it is St. Michael’s College. Fr. Cathary arrived at Reunion Island in 1861. For three years he led an obscure life as supervisor and teacher although afflicted by continual physical suffering. He was comforted by a soul mate whom he had never seen and who wrote to him from metropolitan France the communications that Our Lord made known to her concerning him. In particular, this holy soul had a vision of Fr. Cathary’s death and his tomb in La Ressource cemetery! During his lifetime he was considered a saint by his confreres. He died on 24 May 1863 just as he had been told he would by Our Lady Help of Christians. On that day there was an earthquake in the village where he was born. A year after his death, he appeared to some of his Reunion Island confreres, worked miraculous cures and conversions. His tomb is still in the cemetery of La Ressource and awaits being venerated one day. The Jesuits also founded a theological seminary at La Ressource with the goal that it be a place to instruct future Madagascan priests. One seminarian attained to the priesthood, Fr. Basilide Rahidy, and persevered until his death. But the Fathers of La Ressource did not have the time to develop this seminary because in 1868 Freemasonry began to persecute the Jesuits and the Spiritans. Let us recall that the Jesuits of La Ressource were well-known anti-republicans. One of the Provincial Superiors was Fr. Henri de Villèle, a former Pontifical Zouave who did not conceal his monarchist convictions! The seminary of La Ressource that welcomed seminarians until 1947. The house of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny at La Ressource was burned down by criminals. Seditions were provoked on the Jesuit college, and a riot was fomented against them. Their college was ransacked. In this same year, the freemasons obtained their expulsion from the island and the confiscation of their works, as well as those of the Spiritans. La Ressource then became a spiritual desert until 1885, the date when the Jesuits who were expelled from Madagascar came back to take refuge there. The civil authorities did not drive them out, for they understood only too well that the conquest of Madagascar depended strictly on their apostolate. From that time on, La Ressource came back to life!       The chapel of Our Lady Help of Christians, entirely built in bois de natte in 1850, withstood all cyclones until the one of February, 1962…   In 1938, witnesses still recalled with wonder, the magnificent ceremonies that took place there: the beauty of the hymns, the fervour of the offices, the twenty-two Masses that were celebrated each day at the three altars of Our Lady Help of Christians Chapel until the conquest of Madagascar by France in 1897. La Ressource then sank back into oblivion. The Jesuits sold the chapel, the house and the land to Madam Gaudin de Lagrange, née Ombeline de Villèle, the granddaughter of Charles Desbassayns. She donated it to her daughter, a nun in the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary who settled there in 1919, and the order prospered until the Council. The last three nuns went back to the mother house in St. Denis in November, 2001 for want of vocations. When he got to know these nuns, Fr. Krémer had complete confidence in them. He particularly admired one of them, Sr. Marcelle, who had the gift of looking after drunkards, who were numerous when she arrived in the parish. To accomplish this, she organised meals for them during which she served them alcohol but in moderation. In this way, many of them lost the habit of going to the pub in order to get drunk. She also looked after the Rosary groups. Each month she visited a family in La Ressource and recited the Rosary with them, that is to say, all three groups of mysteries in a row! As a child, I must admit, to my great shame, that I found it a little long, but it was a grace! Sr. Marcelle was most fond of the processions that Fr. Krémer organised. She made the various banners. Let us go back in time. Until 1904, the parish was ministered each Sunday by the Jesuit Fr. Lande who resided at St. Denis. La Ressource was once again going to fall into oblivion when a bishop, Mgr Cléret de Langavant wanted to give it back its former glory. Obviously this man was not ordinary. A combatant at Verdun under the orders of General Pétain, this Spiritan with the face of a saint was named bishop in 1937 and remained there until 1960! Anti-Communist, Pétainist, this bishop was a builder of churches. He had always wanted to found a seminary in his diocese. He chose to build it in La Ressource, which he knew well, since he went there often to celebrate Mass. He bought part of the sisters’ land, had all the buildings rebuilt or restored. They were finished in June, 1940. On 10 July – what a coincidence! – the same day that Marshal Pétain received full powers, he detached the parish of La Ressource from that of St. Mary’s. He ministered there himself from 28 July 1940 to January 1942. Reunion Island was still faithful to Marshal Pétain at that time and the National Revolution was enthusiastically followed by all the people of Reunion Island. Thus the bishop could conceive projects for a renaissance of Christendom. But the Liberation came, and disorder settled in the island. The Communist Party, then in power, let anarchy reign. The bishop stood fast, however, and still built his theological seminary in 1947, which welcomed seven seminarians. On 11 July 1948, on the solemnity of Our Lady Help of Christians, the parish of La Ressource was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Mary. The following year, this consecration was renewed to Our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In 1953, Mgr Cléret de Langavant undertook the building of another church in stone and reinforced concrete, which was so conceived for withstanding cyclones. But the bishop himself did not withstand the cyclonic winds of progressivism that were beginning to blow on Reunion Island. He resigned in 1960, since he felt incapable of continuing his ministry in such a climate of religious revolution as the priests of specialised Catholic Action had created. He was one of the four French bishops who responded to the call of Mgr Venancio, Bishop of Fatima, who had asked the bishops of the whole world to organise prayers in order to obtain from the Pope that he consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mgr Guibert, who ordained Fr. Krémer in 1954, succeeded Mgr Cléret de Langavant, but the rise of left-wing Christians and of the Reunion Island Communist Party, and above all the conciliar reform, only accelerated the decadence. In January, 1962, a terrible cyclone named Jenny struck the island and destroyed everything in its path. The church of La Ressource that the Jesuits had built in 1850 was completely razed to the ground. This is an eloquent prefigurement of the ruin of the Church and missions that the Second Vatican Council was going to provoke! Parish life continued as best it could. This is when Fr. Krémer was appointed parish priest of La Ressource and accepted the responsibility of rebuilding, materially and spiritually. The Immaculate chose him to be the instrument of Her love, a love that was capable of reanimating and filling with enthusiasm lukewarm souls or those who had been misled in this parish that She has always cherished.